Felix Katongo is set to return to the Chipolopolo fold this weekend when Zambia faces Malawi after he received a late call-up to the national team which is currently in camp.
The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations gold medal winner was among the 13 players that were part of today’s training at the National Heroes Stadium.
Katongo is back in the country currently training with Green Buffaloes FC.
Other payers who trained today include Danny Munyau, Bronson Chama (Red Arrows), Fackson Kapumbu, Andrew Kwiliko (Zanaco), Jack Chirwa (GBFC), Benson Sakala (Chicago Magic), Lameck Silwamba (Mufulira Wanderers), Allan Mukuka (GBFC), Paul Katema (Red ARROWS), Webster Mulenga (Nakambala), Felix Katongo (GBFC) and Joseph Zimba (Red Arrows).
Zesco United players; Jacob Banda, Justin Zulu, Winston Kalengo, Kondwani Mtonga and Jackson Mwanza have not been released by the club owing to the midweek rescheduled match against Nakambala but will join the team on Wednesday.
Chipolopolo vice captain Nathan Sinkala is expected in the country on Monday evening.
We need to beat Malawi wth a scoreline of not less than 5-0.
Be specific, you mean netball? As for football I can bet on my dog Danger our range of wining is 1 – 0, Max. 2 – 1. Come back and compare what I have said with the actual results. But we wish them boys a good play.
Am currently in Malawi.If we jst lose or draw,Malawians talk alot.Last time we met them in a game we lost 1-0,I ended up being a loughing stalk,cz I ws,at school,buzy praising Zambia b4 the game and evry1 took note.
How do u build a team with old legs??can someone help me understand what this clown of a coach is trying to do?
This call up signals one of two things, either the coach has the age old local coach mentality of only calling up players he already knows or the new crop of young players have not stepped up to the plate and are still wet behind the ears when it comes to national duty.
Many people are quick to call the veteran players old legs, etc. But have we considered the fact that maybe the quality in our new crop of U20 and 23 are just not skilled enough to play for a national team. They have both failed quite lamentably of late despite the high praise they get from various quarters. Replace quality with quality and not just for the sake of replacing.
But then again the old argument of coaches only selecting players they know might be at play here. If HR was never Zambia coach players like Mbola would never have made it to the national team, why, a local coach would never have picked him or even considered assessing him in a million years.
Its not that the new players are not talented, its just that people expected them to do things the veterans were doing. Look at the Afcon squad everyone was calling for this young hot player that young hit player, no they dont have enough experience and are not mature enough to achieave anything. Our Afcon squad was flooded with them as Janza thought that was route out of his misery, to not call old legs. It’s not the way, the squad should be balenced. The young players managed to fire us out of the trouble Janza created in the qualifiers but taking them to Afcon they were never going to deliver. Bottom of the group first round exit.
its very hard for me to see the sence of this friendly match
what a move? Why ? When this guy spends all his time drinking and chasing girls at a certain lodge in avondale
Grow up and grow out of it. Talk about his game and not kubwatabwata chabe
lmao leave it son how much football has he played since december to merit? Or you one of his followers for free beer? I just told it as it is @ me again son
I think it will be hard forus to build a team like the 2012 team coz of the soccer fans demands we want every one who shines in 1 to 3 games should be in the national team-there should be consistence even in the local league.The coach should use whoever he wants as long as he is able to bring results.look at john terry,ineista,javier,lahm and drogoba they are 32 years and above but they bring results.
Jaza lacks foresight and he is working without a philosophy . To he is a boozers coach . He lacks professionalism and he is very confused indeed .what makes him feel Felix deserve another chance yet he is clubless. This corruption in zambian football. He want to field so that he can market himself .after all the player is not even exceptional . Felix has no direction and discipline . Jaza has demonstrated to people of Zambia that he has no capacity to take us anyway . With jaza its one step forward two steps backward .
Its high time that we get a new foreign coach.The story with local coaches is always the same biased,big headed and lost.They never cease to make senseless decisions.
Its high time that we get a new foreign coach.The story with local coaches is always the same biased,big headed and lost.They never cease to make senseless decisions!
Janza is on his way out that he knows
@Pulu the government doesn’t have money to pay an expatriate coach as things stand Janza is the head coach and we’ll all have to help him in the best way possible.
come on guys lest surport janza,look at south they arlwsy behide mashaba.but why us we tolk too much.
Zenophobia mentality peter
I beg you not to use South Africa as an example again, for now those Xenophobia videos still fresh and play in my brain and I have decided to keep the photos and videos in my archive, sorry lets just look for OUR own solutions to this pathetic football we now display.
Jaza you always come up with something strange,why Felix and for what?i know since he is cluebless so you want to market him so that when looking for a club it will carry some weight that he even features for the National team,crap ,pure crap and stupid after campaigning for you Janza this is how you repay us by recalling grandpas who are not so serious with their careers and moreover this boy is a season per team player.
What sin has Roger Kola committed that He can not be called even for a meaningless friendly against Malawi?
Nothing wrong with having Felix Katongo if, as has been proved so far, the current so called fresh legs can’t offer anything worth the salt. We tend to overhype our young boys who end up under achieving when duty calls. We should handle players who’ve shown potential carefully otherwise they’ll go nowhere. Bruce Musakanya, Sate Sate, Mukuka Mulenga, are prime examples of players whose potential progression to the next level have been mishandled due to silly overhyping. Being good at swimming in the shallow end doesn’t make you ready for the deep end without proper guidance.
Right now I’d more concerned at having a detailed overview of why our U-23, U-20 teams performed so lamentably even after the hype had reached the skies. Was it the game plans, was it the preps, was it the coaches’ nativity or the players buying into the hype? To move forward we must know what brought us down in the first place. Are we doing things any different now than we were before our disastrous outings?
Are we forgetting also that the same old legs were also failing us since Afcon 2012? We forget that even these same old legs didn’t start on a winning note in 2006, 2008 until 2010 when we got to the quarter-finals. For crying out loud Felix has failed to manage his own career and wasn’t even a top performer when he featured for GBFC before going to Egypt. I still believe the same youngsters with a bit of patience like we had with the old legs is the only way out. Chairmanizo my man do not be destructed keep churning out those kids. Cameroun have stopped looking at the Eto’s, Webos, Songs etc that are/were way better than our old legs-watch how young Clinton Njie takes Africa by storm after impressing for Lyon this season, unfortunately, he had a hamsting injury last weekend. Eish you have to be strong with our soccer!
@ puddy if you were the coach what completion do bring into the team n what do u aim to achieve by calling players like Felix . Why so easy to put on national team jersy . The under 20 n 23 are good for development not to get results . Germany n Belgium they do not dominate at junior level but there senior teams are strong .
Janza has used 1,4,2,1,3 formation and managed to win some matches and lost some.He should replace Singulume with Nathan Sinkala coz at Buffalo he played in front of Mfune and even at amrture level.Chisadinho is idea player to play in front of two midfieders and behind mayuka or n striker coz this role needs a player who holds and likes the ball and does with the ball many things.justin zulu do on defensive midfield.
We still need experienced playes Roma was not build in one day.
This is a baffling call up. The player is clubless so why call him.
@Tony mash the reason why countries like German n Belgum do well at senior level without dominating u-20 n u-23 is simple. Infrastructure, great academies and leagues that are run professionally. Sadly we don’t have the luxury of such things in Zambia and on top of that our local league is does not come near good enough to produce quality players on a consistent basis. Therefore our only hope of exposing our boys to the much needed experience is through junior tournaments as well as continental club competition where unfortunately we’re still breast-feeding. Ghana and Nigeria have been consistent at producing stars at junior levels who have gone on to play in European leagues. That’s why their senior teams are always contenders and not mere participants at Afcon.
And if Katongo’s age is the reason why people don’t want him in the team, here are your current world champions ages; Philipp Lahm 31, Schweinsteiger 30, Manuel Neuer 29, Miroslav Klose 36, Roman Weidnfeller 34, Mario Gomez and Podolski both 29. So while our friends look at performances to determine who gets the called up, we somehow look at one’s age. I’m not against giving chance to young guys, but I have issues when age becomes a determining factor.
I agree with you.There is so much emphasis on age rather than performance.Malawi still have Ficher Kondowe in their young team!I believe in the young lads progression to the senior team but i also believe the so called old legs still have a part to play in helping this transition.
It seems janza wants to do anything to convince us, its unfortunately beating Malawi is not our bench mark. building a team with old legs its total insane
Performance is more important than how Old or Young a player might be..It’s not age that’ll win You matches,but performance…
A lil drop of advice…is don’t be so had on your coach…it’s a simple friendly and this is de perfect time to try other players…or shd I say think outside the box…do de unthinkable to achieve your future goals
ZAMBEEF and 3 other sponsors are likely to pay the coaches salary like KCM used to do for Renard
We will beat Malawi but by less than 3 goals.
@Naked goal I’d be very happy if we beat Malawi, but don’t you think what would be more satisfying is beating them playing good football rather than the actual shoreline? I mean so what if we clobber a team like Malawi 7-0 but but fail to play football as chipolopolo ought to?
If there is nothing in the premier league, take a walk there might be a dark skinned spotting petroleum jelly, smart boy with a table cut or a bibo as well.
However, you may need an old head or two to calm things down and show the way to young people.